Compression And Ways Of Its Realization In Consecutive Interpreting

The aim of the study is to investigate the use of compression strategy in consecutive interpreting (CI) with reference to the language combination of Chinese and English.The study addresses the following questions:(1) Is compression universal for all language combinations in CI? (2) If so, what methods can be adopted to realize compression?This research uses experimental method, inductive method and experience summary. The author analyzes compression in consecutive interpreting based on daily practices where the author won’t interpret word for word; instead, several words and phrases will be substituted or omitted intentionally or unintentionally. A lot of examples are demonstrated to evident the author’s idea.While studying, the author finds that the main factors of compression are linguistic redundancy of languages, specific characteristics of the spoken language, speech contexts and situations, different syntactic structures of Chinese and English, and interpreters’ manipulation with delivery speed under stringent temporal constraints in the process of CI. Professional skills and experiences of individual interpreters and their delivery speeds have also affected their use of compression in CI.The study mainly includes two aspects. The first is about the possibilities and necessities of compression in CI. The second is about using substitution and omission to realize compression. The author uses mountains of examples to verify compression in consecutive interpreting from two aspects of substitution (substitution of words and phrases, substitution of short sentences) and three aspects of omission (omission of expressions of repeated information, omission of expressions of self-evident information, omission of expressions of unnecessary information)...